PODCAST

: lower black pain.

Jd Michaels - The CabsEverywhere Creative Production House

Life’s lemons into rich, dark chocolate. lowerblackpain.substack.com

society & culture performing arts

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3:21

Grateful.

: lower black pain. ·

2024/05/09

The seven deadly sins get all the attention. They are the high school “bad kids” at the loudest lunchroom table, all switchblades and cigarettes, roaming life’s hallways like they own the place. The seven heavenly virtues are off studying at the library: prudence, justice, temperance, fortitude, faith, hope, and charity: also a very impressive group, who do a lot of volunteer work that will look great on their college applications, but in my opinion are missing one critical member.In all of human

7:43

boneless.

: lower black pain. ·

2024/05/02

I was never allowed to go boneless. I must’ve tried, once, but it wasn’t a viable option for negotiation. If you’re confused, boneless is that thing little kids do in the grocery store where they go incredibly limp, instantly doubling their body weight like a leaden water balloon supported only by a parents’ grip on their somehow-always-sticky hand. The boneless tactic is usually employed as a last ditch effort bargaining chip to either obtain something or avoid doing something. I wasn’t allowed

5:46

Flights of Better Angels.

: lower black pain. ·

2024/04/25

It’s been a rough week.Back in the late 1980’s, when people could still smoke on planes, I took a flight home from college at Christmastime. Someone had told me how to get to the airport very early so that I could give my seat to someone in a bigger rush than me, thus earning myself a free flight coupon. I did so, and later that afternoon found myself one flight wealthier and holding a tentative aisle seat on another overbooked flight.I don’t know what her name was (I know she told me later); she

6:44

AI, IRL.

: lower black pain. ·

2024/04/18

I have indeed fretted over the possibility of computers somehow “taking over” while listening to NPR through my smart-speaker over broadband wireless, working on my laptop.As a child, computers represented “logic and efficiency” when I was all about imagination and emotion. I didn’t see how our paths would even cross unless I someday worked in one of those rooms full of tall white metal machines with the big round spinning tape spools on them. Then came the irresistible bacon-like seduction of the

2:18

Luna Obscura.

: lower black pain. ·

2024/04/11

this week my daughter rose from bedand put a colander on her headsince we don’t have a family rule“you can’t wear kitchen tools to school”she did so, proudly. Metal hat.(Stop her? Why would we do that?)it’s a pretty even bet thatsome of this could be geneticher voice, walk and choice of clothesseem to cause intrigue with thosewho don’t believe that it’s all real –then WE show up, and seal the dealshe spent the day attending class:as her friends and teachers passedthey’d ask, of course, in low

7:45

Heavens! (Centennial.)

: lower black pain. ·

2024/04/04

I began this experiment nearly two years ago, and as I explained in a reply to a recent comment, did not expect it to go on this long. Originally there were to be 12 columns, a number I enjoy for various reasons, but then this sort of became a habit, and I didn’t want to stop for any specific reason, so I kept going; setting new goals, none especially significant. I made it a year, which was fun, and now this is the 100th column, and I know exactly what I want to write about.That being said; it

6:17

Einsteinium.

: lower black pain. ·

2024/03/28

I adore the periodic table. To me it’s a larder containing everything that makes up everything. I also feel that way about the dictionary, the full spectrum of light, the audible wavelength range of musical notes, and the giant menus at diners in the Northeast where you can get both waffles and lobster.Einsteinium is the element you get when you combine 99 protons with 99 electrons, which is difficult to do because it requires a hydrogen bomb explosion, which we are absolutely blessed with a dearth

7:07

Shelf Space.

: lower black pain. ·

2024/03/21

Yesterday my dentist and I ended up talking about Pokémon cards.He had started playing the Pokémon card game in ninth grade, and collected quite a stash of them, which he was still very proud of, though a few years ago he had given the bulk of it to two of his nephews. “I found out they traded them for some snacks at school.” he told me. His voice didn’t quaver, but it wasn’t steady. He changed the direction of the conversation.“Did you ever collect them?”“Just a few.” I replied (my mouth was still

3:15

276 days 'til Winter.

: lower black pain. ·

2024/03/14

By the time Winter gets here, the voting will be over. You’ll have most of your holiday presents wrapped and the tree will definitely be up, if that’s a thing you do. You’ll be done with pumpkin spice and will have probably seen that Dune sequel since it came out for download in June. You’ll have bought warm new pajamas that aren’t fraying around the hem and no matter what you were worried about or how many newscasters or late night comedians communicated general chaosyou’ll be sitting somewhere

1:36

I Really Think That You'll Agree.

: lower black pain. ·

2024/03/07

“The end of winter” is not “Spring”.morning light still powder bluea chill at sunriseleafless brancheslack of birdsongbed so warmmost certainlythis iswhere we’re supposed to bebut alas alarm (three snoozes); winter wins(sigh)comfort, losesday beginsso very slow, push push and push and barely godrawing superhuman power to make coffee, take a showergo from here to here againbut that’s the point of when this isthe destination lies aheadall efforts leading back tobed so warmuntil we hear the birdsand

6:53

Mystery History.

: lower black pain. ·

2024/02/29

I have always considered the “African” part of “African-American” a bit of a mystery. Some Americans grow up surrounded by the language and culture of the first part of their hyphenated nationality, be it Irish or Chinese or Russian, and have been told stories from their grandparents about a faraway place that one would have to cross a body of water to visit which the entire family sometimes refers to as “home”.For my family, that place is Kansas. At some point before that, it was certainly Africa,

5:47

Encyclopedia (brown).

: lower black pain. ·

2024/02/22

I have only one picture of my great grandmother. It is sepia toned, with blue dip pen notes on the back. She’s wearing old fashioned clothing. She is not smiling. It’s difficult to assume anything about her life except that she was staunch: her eyes look into the camera and beyond it with the power of one of Bruce Lee’s punches.I have maybe 80 photographs of my grandparents, only on the one side of the family, since that’s the side I know. Five large albums with photos displaying the history of home

7:00

Mirror Mirror.

: lower black pain. ·

2024/02/15

I went to college in one of the poorest cities in the United States. I believe it was number seven at that time. The college itself was a Hogwarts style oasis, complete with gothic clock towers and leaded glass windows. To be honest, I felt more immediately at home in the city part, as it reminded me of home somewhat, and was the only place I could get my hair properly cut. I only had to wander about three blocks off campus to find an actual barber shop, with actual men sitting around talking about

5:46

This Was Going To Be a Whole Lot Funnier @ 4:55...

: lower black pain. ·

2024/02/08

Yesterday at 5 PM, my daughter called me at work on FaceTime, which is how I could see how visibly upset she was.“They murdered him!” she said. “What are you watching?” I asked.“I’m not watching anything! I’m doing my homework!” “What homework? Who’s dead?”“The little boy…” and here she paused.My daughter is not studying to be a detective, nor a coroner; she’s a seventh grader, and last I knew she was studying diseases. Her school has education units where a single subject is the focus of

6:03

Harmonic Resonance.

: lower black pain. ·

2024/02/01

About two decades ago I got a new job, director of a large art production department in a storied New York advertising firm. I represented a demographic premiere (super young, and let’s just say: etc.) never before seen in a position like that.Inside the ad industry, times were politically rife. Inside our building, the company was evolving as fast as mosquito blood in a Jurassic Park lab.Thus this new job was a hornets’ nest on top of an active volcano, so with very little useable precedent, I

4:56

Chaos ex Machina.

: lower black pain. ·

2024/01/25

At a young age I developed a very specific concern regarding stories: it always seemed that it was more difficult for characters to be honestly happy than to be afraid of something. Evil lurked everywhere, it could pop out of a cereal box or telephone or monkey’s paw (ok, well that one, c’mon, you had it coming), but Good always had to arrive at the last minute. And no one seemed to have an answer for it. Good always played defense to Evil’s offense. This really bothered me when I was eleven,

4:33

Needles and Pins.

: lower black pain. ·

2024/01/18

As the middle-aged father of a very New Woman, the idea that any homemade fashion I create would be enthusiastically adopted is a pipe dream, but I crocheted a snood for my daughter. A snood is a loop scarf, big enough to double over the head and become kind of a hat, sort of the same idea as the hoody dress Princess Leia wears when saying “Help me, Obi-Wan” in the hologram. It took three weeks, but I kept at it and worked to choose the right color of yarn and not drop too many stitches.She wore

6:33

M, J, & M again.

: lower black pain. ·

2024/01/11

My mother has big dreams for me. She wants me to grow up to do something significant and useful. She wants me to not quit, and to stay strong, and to hang in there, like a kitten on a motivational poster.She won’t let me always use the calculator, because then I won’t learn how to actually solve a problem (“…what if you don’t have batteries someday?”). She teaches me to type on the manual typewriter because the added effort make my fingers “remember better”. She gives me timed tests of

4:27

Book Report

: lower black pain. ·

2024/01/04

I have some things I am excited to make this year, a few movies I’m anxious to see, and lots of books I’d like to read. We have a great deal of books. One might say “too many”, but One would not be entirely accurate. I classify the measurement as “We just need one more bookshelf. And maybe a wall to put it on.”My grandfather’s house held a library. I believe most of it was there when they moved in (back in the ‘40s), but he was the one that added all of the law books; I tried to read a couple of

1:54

JN.1 / Jd: 0 [A Letter To Baby New Year]

: lower black pain. ·

2023/12/28

Covid in Our Christmas Stockings was not the name of a new holiday movie, but instead the elevator pitch plot of my actual life this week.Exchanging yuletide pleasantries for “Hark! The Herald Angels Sneeze!” has left me weak, my head still spinning……thus this brief poem, for year’s beginning.Dear Baby New Year,you can’t read this yetyou’re just an infant butI worked outyou must ageat leasta quarter-year a day,which is the reasonthough I’ve thought to writeI never did.I knew that until March 15th

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